This Statement explains the Internet Privacy Policy and Security Statement Policy. The college reserves the right to amend this policy at any time without notice. Pages that appear after you click on a link on our webpage may be controlled by a different agency or entity, whose practices are not under the college’s control and this Policy Statement does not pertain to those websites not under the college’s control.

Virginia Law

We protect our records in accordance with our obligations as defined by applicable Virginia statutes, including, but not limited to, the “Government Data Collection and Dissemination Practices Act” Code of Virginia §2.2-3800 et seq., the “Virginia Freedom of Information Act” § 2.2-3700, et seq., and by any applicable U.S. federal laws.

Security Statement

Mountain Empire Community College ensures the integrity of our systems and that the data we store is protected. The college has gone beyond industry standards to protect our systems by using firewalls, IDS/ISP devices, NAC protection, requiring authentication (systems, networks and data), requiring encryption of all sensitive data and applying all physical security possible. We perform monitoring of all systems and networks; network modeling and shaping, employ the latest Anti-virus / Anti-Spam protection, and performing audits of all systems and networks. We instill the concept of security and data protection in everything we do including our day to day business practices; new systems, network and building designs; and as a overall part of the colleges desire to keep our environment and data safe and private.

Web Privacy Statement

It is the policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia that agencies of the Commonwealth will collect and retain personal information about citizens only to the extent necessary to provide the service or benefit desired; collect only appropriate information; provide the reason the information is collected so that citizens shall understand that reason clearly and enable citizens to examine their personal record which is maintained by a public body.
The Mountain Empire Community College Web site:
1. May collect one or more of the following pieces of personal information: your email address, name, social security number, date of birth, phone number, or course assignments. Any of this information is collected to meet your specific online requests. If you choose not to provide this personal information, you will be unable to receive some of the services this Web site offers.
2. Collects your IP address, pages browsed, and date and time of your visit. This information is used for internal College statistical purposes only.
3. Uses only temporary cookies (i.e., files which may contain a variety of information) on some Web pages for screen colors and graphics or to track movement on the site but will not place them permanently on your hard drive. When you exit the Web site, the file is automatically removed.
4. May link to other Web sites that may or may not collect data that does not have a relationship to the College through using cookies. You should check for a policy on the linked to Web page.
5. Safeguards any information gathered in compliance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia and does not supply any gathered information to other individuals or organizations, except in compliance with those laws.

The college endeavors to collect only the minimum amount of information needed to provide its services. If you do nothing during your visit to the Mountain Empire Community College website but browse or download information, we automatically collect and store the following information about your visit:

the Internet domain and IP address from which you accessed our site;

the type of browser and operating system you used;

the date and time you visited this site;

the pages visited; and

if you linked from another website, the address of that

If, during your visit, you send us an e-mail message, we will collect the e-mail address and contents of the message, including audio, video and graphic information formats you send us. This may be to respond to you, to address issues you identify, to further improve our website or to forward your message to another agency for appropriate action.

The information in our Web logs is not personally identifiable and no attempt is made to link it with the individuals that browse our website. We do collect, however, personal information directly from individuals who volunteer to complete forms or participate in surveys, in order to deliver the services requested. We only collect, retain and use personal information where we believe it is essential to administer our business and to provide products, services and other opportunities requested by our customers.

Information We Collect Automatically

All of the information listed above at “Information We Collect, Including Personally Identifiable Information (PII)” is collected and stored automatically by the college through software purchased from a third-party vendor.

Cookies

“Cookies” are small files either stored on a server or sent back to a visiting computer. In certain applications user information is stored as “cookies,” which are then sent back to and stored on the user’s computer.

Some sections of the college’s website use cookies to customize the information presented to you. Cookies are also used to aggregate site usage information to help us improve our users’ experience.

How We Use The Information We Collect

Usage information is used to improve the content of our Web services and to help us understand how people are using our pages. We analyze our website logs to improve the value of the materials available on our site. Routing information is used to send requested Web pages to your computer for viewing. Transaction routing information is used primarily in a statistical summary format to assess content and server performance. We may share this summary information with our contracted vendors who provide analytics for us when needed. We analyze our website logs to continually improve the value of the materials available on our site. The information in our Web logs is not personally viewable and no attempt is made to link it with the individuals that browse our website.

If, during your visit to the college’s website, you send us an e-mail message, we will collect the e-mail address and contents of the message, including audio, video and graphic information formats you send us. This may be to respond to you, to address issues you identify, to further improve our website or to forward your message to another agency for appropriate action.

We do collect personal information directly from individuals who volunteer to subscribe to our services, complete forms or participate in surveys. Collecting personal information is necessary in order for the college to deliver the services requested. We only collect, retain and use personal information where we believe it is essential to administer our business and to provide products, services and other opportunities requested by our customers.

We may keep your information indefinitely, but we ordinarily delete routing information regularly after the Web page is transmitted. However, on rare occasions when a “hacker” attempts to breach computer security, logs of routing information are retained to permit a security investigation and in such cases may be forwarded together with any other relevant information in our possession to law enforcement agencies. We use this transaction routing information primarily in a statistical summary type format to assess site content and server performance. We may share this summary information with our business partners when needed.

Optional information is retained in accordance with the records retention schedules at the Library of Virginia.

Under the “Virginia Freedom of Information Act” (FOIA), any records in our possession at the time of a “Freedom of Information Request” might be subject to inspection by or disclosure to members of the public. However, identifiable personal information will be removed prior to such release in accordance with FOIA.

Customer comments or review

If you have questions about this privacy statement or the practices of this website, or if you choose to review or correct any information you previously submitted, please contact us at info@mecc.edu.